


frisson

by Narraboth



Category: DCU (Comics), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, helena's characterization is a mess but mostly inspired by the good old simone version
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-10-31 17:26:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10904064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narraboth/pseuds/Narraboth
Summary: In which Helena Bertinelli, everyone's favorite mafia-hunting vigilante, enters the lives of Lena Luthor and Kara Danvers.A series of loosely connected one-shots, decidedly not in chronological order. Most of them can be blamed on tumblr user @luthores.





	1. getting hurt

“You know, this wasn’t entirely what I was thinking of when I hoped my Friday night would at some point involve me being half-naked on your couch.”

Helena hopes to lighten the mood a bit, to show Lena that she’s not really hurt, that she’s fine, but her voice is shaking, her face is pale as death and Lena’s jaw tightens.

“I didn’t think my Friday night would involve you bleeding all over my couch, either, and yet here we are” she replies in a sharp tone, and cuts the suture. She is almost as pale as Helena, her jaw clenched and her lips pressed together tight, and she keeps an angry silence until she’s done dressing Helena’s wound. “You’re done” she announces once she’s done with a bandage, and moves to stand up, but Helena reaches after her, catching her hand.

“Thank you” she says, and Lena’s face softens.

“Life would be so much easier if you were bulletproof” she sighs.

“And not have you take care of me? I wouldn’t give that up for the whole world, Lena” Helena smiles, drawing Lena’s hand to her lips, and she doesn’t miss the way her girlfriend’s eyes start glistening.

“You promised you wouldn’t go out into the field without Kara being there to back you up.”

“I know, cara, and I’m sorry, but...” Helena starts, but Lena draws her hand back, and stands up, stepping away from the couch, her face a marble mask again, unreadable and unmovable.

“You _promised_ , Hel.”

“Lena...”

“I’ll be in the bedroom if you need me.”

* * *

The following day, Helena finds Lena hunched over some blueprints in her study, so engrossed in her work that she doesn’t even notice when Helena sneaks up on her.

“Good morning.”

Lena’s head snaps up, and Helena is met with a disapproving glare.

“You should be in bed.”

“So should you, it’s the weekend” Helena grins. Lena rolls her eyes and returns her gaze to her blueprints. “What are you working on?”

“Your new suit” Lena answers without looking up.

“A new suit?” Helena repeats in disbelief. “What for? The old one is fine.”

“Oh, yes, my mistake. The old one is fine, as you so aptly demonstrated last night when you came home with a five-inch-long cut, drawing a trail of blood after yourself.”

“I’m fine” Helena retorts, taken aback by the snark, and crosses her arms - a move that turns out to be more painful than expected, and she has to bite down on her lips not to let out a cry.

“Clearly” Lena snorts, not missing the painful grimace on Helena’s face.

“I’ve had worse, Lena, you know that.”

“That’s not the point!” Lena raises her voice now, and her face starts to darken. “You’re still acting like a lone wolf who has nothing to lose, as if it’s your job to dive head first into danger and laugh off every hit you take.”

"Well, I am a lone wolf” Helena points out with a sarcastic smile. “Always have been.”

Lena shakes her head, suddenly looking very tired, and reaches out to touch her hand.

“Helena, please. You have me now. You have Kara. You don’t need to fight alone and pretend that it’s fine whenever you get hurt. When she insists to go out with you on patrol, it’s not because she wants to babysit you, it’s because she wants to make sure you stay safe because unlike her, you’re not indestructible. And when I want to design you a new suit instead of that leather getup you're currently prancing around in, it’s because I don’t want you to get shot and stabbed on my watch, not if I can prevent it. We just want to take care of you, as much as we can.”

Silence sets between them: Helena is staring at Lena, processing what she was just told, while Lena waits patiently.

"I’m sorry” Helena finally murmurs, taking a seat next to Lena and wrapping her intact arm around her shoulder, drawing her close; Lena lays her head on Helena’s shoulder and Helena presses her lips to her temple. "Let me look at that suit."

Lena draws the prints in front of her and Helena has to marvel at them: she couldn't have had more than a couple of hours, and yet the plans are almost complete and what's more, they look amazing, functional but sleek and elegant in design. However, there is one considerable difference to this compared to her current suit...

“But this is an armor! It’s all bulky and shit” Helena complains immediately. “You wouldn’t put Kara in a battle suit.”

Lena rolls her eyes.

“Unlike you, Kara is quite literally impervious to any form of weaponry that’s from this Earth. She could wear a bikini and she’d be fine.”

“Now that would be a sight” Helena grins, and Lena looks up, narrowing her eyes.

“You’re still threading on thin ice, Bertinelli. Don’t push it.”

“Fine, fine. I want a cape, though.”

“Absolutely not.”


	2. first meetings

Kara is fidgeting a lot that evening. It’s not that she doesn’t like galas - she can get through them just fine, she always enjoy spending time with Lena, and when it’s science-related, she usually gets to nerd out with researchers over the latest tech inventions instead of just carrying on the usual polite and boring small-talk. This gala, however, is not one of those occasions, and Kara desperately wishes she was outside, flying through the night sky, instead of mingling with the snootiest people of National City’s elite.

Lena must feel her impatience because she smiles at her and squeezes her hand gently.

“Another half an hour and we can get out of here” she murmurs, and Kara answers with a smile.

“It’s fine, babe. As long as you need.”

“Have I told you that you’re the best?” Lena beams at her, and Kara chuckles.

“You may have, but I do love hearing it.”

“You’re the best.”

“Mhm.” Kara bends down to press a small kiss on Lena’s lips. She can feel Lena’s lips curling into a smile in return and she reaches up to cup Kara’s face.

“On a second thought, maybe we should leave early” Lena whispers, drawing back.

“You sure?” Kara grins enthusiastically, but then she looks up for a moment, and her brows furrow. “It seems like someone is looking for you.”

The someone in question is a very attractive young woman with a confident smirk, strutting across the room towards them, her gaze locked on Lena, whose posture stiffens when she spots the stranger, staring in disbelief.

“Is everything alright?” Kara asks, worried, but before Lena could answer, the mystery woman is already in front of them. She’s tall, almost about Kara’s height, sinewy, and strikingly beautiful, with icy blue eyes, a pronounced jawline and long dark curls falling down her shoulders.

“Long time, no see, Lena” she greets her with a tone of overt familiarity that makes Kara’s fingers twitch; even more so when the woman reaches out to draw Lena into a hug and after a moment of hesitation, Lena hugs her back.

“I didn’t know you were in town, Helena” she says, finally drawing back. The woman grins, and Kara cannot help but feel a pang of jealousy.

“I only arrived yesterday. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to surprise such a dear _friend_ ” Helena makes a point of emphasizing that word and Kara can feel her lips pressing together into a strained smile and her hands slowly curling into fists at her side. Lena doesn’t miss the tension: she draws closer to Kara instantly, bringing her hand to the small of her back, smiling when she feels Kara relaxing at the light touch.

“Helena, this is my girlfriend, Kara Danvers. Kara, this is Helena Bertinelli, an old friend of mine.”

They both take the opportunity to appraise each other, Helena maybe gazing at her a bit more brazenly than Kara does, before she’d hold her hand out.

“I’ve been following your articles with some interest, Miss Danvers” she says, and Kara cannot help but feel some teasing in her tone. 

“Kara, please” she replies with a smile, a bit more genuine this time around. “You flatter me.”

“Kara” Helena repeats. “Reading your stance on vigilante justice was quite intriguing.”

“I’m sure it was” Lena says with an enigmatic smile and Kara's gaze just jumps between the two of them, confused. Helena just grins again.

“Well, I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone. We should catch up sometime, cara. I've missed you.”

"I've missed you, too" Lena replies, her eyes growing misty. Helena smiles again, softer and warmer this time, and waves goodbye to Kara before she walks away, towards the bar, and Kara doesn't waste any time to break the nostalgic mood.

“So who is she exactly?”

“An old... acquaintance” Lena answers, looking away. "We met when I was in college. We were quite close back then."

"An acquaintance" Kara repeats, perhaps a bit more sharply than intended, and she immediately regrets it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

Lena looks up at her, lips slowly curling into a smile, and she reaches out to stroke Kara's cheek.

“Kara, sweetheart, are you actually _jealous_?”

Kara blushes and stammers and is about to deny vehemently when suddenly, through the rumble of the crowd, she can clearly hear a sound that she knows all too well: the sound of bones breaking. A painful cry quickly follows and Kara’s head snaps up, looking for the attackers - but when she locates the source of the noise, she just finds a man nursing his hand, a waitress with a somewhat frightened expression and Helena with the most satisfied smirk on her face.

“...you broke my hand, you crazy bitch!” he whines, and even from a distance, Kara can see Helena’s eyes turning ice-cold.

“I broke your hand for being disrespectful to a woman, do you really want to try your luck with that behaviour again?” That seems to shut the man up, and Helena nods towards the waitress. “You owe the lady an apology. Better be quick about it.”

For a moment, the man seems like he’d rather choke than apologize, but then he blurts out a faint “I’m sorry”, and scrams when Helena waves her hand. The young Bertinelli must feel that she’s being watched, though, because she raises her head and locks eyes with Kara. She smirks when she realizes who’s been watching her and winks at Kara before she turns to walk away.

_Wow._

“Kara? Is everything alright?” Lena’s tone is concerned and when Kara turns back to her girlfriend, blush creeping up her cheeks, she realizes that she must have been staring without response for a solid minute.

“Sorry, I zoned out for a moment there” she mumbles. “I was just thinking… Maybe we should invite your friend for dinner. It would be nice to get to know her.”


	3. Chapter 3

Kara’s lunch breaks provide the occasional but much-appreciated opportunity for some quality Danvers sisters time spent over some greasy pizzas or Chinese takeout; that is, of course, given that Alex is not chasing down a rogue alien through National City or Kara is not busy with a story while Snapper Carr is breathing down her neck. This time, though, Alex manages to contain the alien menace before 11 am, she’s done with the paperwork by 12:30, and she’s sipping some well-earned coffee at the DEO headquarters when she digs out her phone to text Kara.

**[Alex]** : _just turned in the paperwork. lunch at that new Italian place?_

**[Kara]** : _sorry, can’t! having lunch with Helena rn :)_

**[Kara]** : _sisters night instead tonight at my place? just stocked up on icecream!_

The text is followed by about fifteen food emojis, but Alex is still looking at the first text, confused.

**[Alex]** : _...Helena?_

**[Kara]** : _an old friend of Lena's, she’s great, i want to invite her to the next game night!!!_

There’s a photo attached to the texts this time. They are on the CatCo balcony, eating takeout by the looks of it, but Alex couldn’t care less if they were having picnic by the Eiffel Tower. Her attention is only on the woman in the picture, a young brunette with a golden cross around her neck, sporting a black leather jacket and a tight blouse, looking into the camera with a downright flirtatious smile, giving her photographer the kind of look that Alex is sure a woman even as composed as Lena Luthor would be seething with jealousy over. Kara, however, is apparently oblivious and seems to believe that the pic must have satisfied Alex’s curiosity, because there are no follow-up messages.

“Hey, Danvers, are you working a mob case or something?” Alex doesn’t even realize that Maggie has sneaked up on her and is now looking at her phone curiously, the photo of Kara’s friend still on the screen. "If you do, I want in."

“Mob case?” Alex asks, and Maggie raises an eyebrow and points at the screen.

“That’s Helena Bertinelli, daughter of the head of one of Gotham’s biggest mob families” she explains, and gives Alex a mischievous look. "Or should I be jealous that you're just looking a hot women on your phone for no apparent reason?"

Alex’s mouth is left gaping. She looks at the screen, back up at Maggie, down on the screen and back up at Maggie again, her face taking on a very pained expression.

“Why is my baby sister having lunch with a mafia heiress?”


	4. Chapter 4

When Huntress first appears in National City, she leaves a trail of broken noses and fractured skulls in her wake, dismantling a group of weapon smugglers. She shows up twice within the same week, once to stop a robbery and once to wreck a drunk who decided to harass a couple of young aliens, and Kara is, to put it mildly, rather unhappy with the new vigilante’s appearance on the streets of her city.

Above all, she doesn’t like humans putting their lives on the line when they don’t absolutely need to: it took weeks to really come to terms with James taking up the Guardian’s mantle, and even when they train at the DEO or work together on a case, she cannot help but feel bitter and anxious, afraid for her friend’s safety. But the Huntress in particular is a sore spot: she’s brash, reckless and prone to violence, ferocious enough that Gotham’s Dark Knight thinks twice before he’d work with her. CatCo and the Tribune run some of the old Gotham stories when the cross-bearing vigilante shows up first in National City, with crime scene photos of mobsters nailed to the walls with arrows shot through their palms, mafia bosses murdered at their homes, and a boat involved in human trafficking blown to shreds with the crew still on deck. It’s not that Kara minds someone taking out bad guys, of course, but those methods she cannot condone, and she is determined to let Huntress know that.

  


* * *

  


As it turns out, it’s almost laughably easy to sneak up on the Huntress once Kara manages to pinpoint her location. It’s over midnight: she’s perched on a rooftop, watching the streets intently and Kara cannot help the smug smile on her face as she drops behind her without making a sound and takes up her usual pose, hands on her waist.

“Enjoying the view?”

The vigilante spins around, drawing her crossbow from its holster and aiming it at Kara with impressive speed and precision. She stares at her for a moment, processing the identity of her surprise visitor, before she’d lower the crossbow.

“Now I definitely am” she smirks. There’s some sort of a voice-distorting device on her costume, Kara realizes. The Huntress looks her up and down, still smirking, heartbeat slow and steady, matching her confident demeanour. “I was wondering when you’d drop by to say hi, Supergirl.”

Kara is annoyed by the nonchalant tone, but she doesn’t let it distract her: her expression remains stern, unmoved.

“I’ve seen your work, Huntress.”

The smirk widens on the vigilante’s face. “l’m flattered.”

“Don’t be” she throws back, scowling: the Huntress’ style decidedly irks her. “I’ve come to warn you. I won’t abide killing in my city.”

“Ooooh” Huntress chuckles. “I’m positively shaking, Supergirl. No need to worry, I don’t plan on wreaking havoc in your precious city.”

“You put five guys in the hospital just last week, Huntress.”

“But they were all alive” the vigilante points out with a wolfish grin, seeming oddly proud of her supposed restraint. This time, Kara cannot help but let out an exasperated huff, crossing her arms.

"Why are you here, Huntress? I thought your city was Gotham.” 

For the first time during their conversation, the other woman’s expression falters: there’s an uptick in her heartbeat and she presses her lips together tightly before she’d answer.

“Maybe I needed a change of scenery and a bit of sunlight” Huntress deadpans. “The latter is especially hard to come by in Gotham.”

Before Kara could answer, the well-known sounds of glass shattering rip through the air, accompanied by cries for help, coming from about four blocks away and Kara lifts up into the air immediately in response, hovering a good six feet above the vigilante’s head.

“Duty calls” she explains. “But this is not the last time we talk, Huntress.”

The vigilante follows Kara with her eyes intently.

“Oh, I do hope so, Supergirl” she murmurs, the smirk returning to her lips again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As per usual, @captain-narraboth on tumblr is where you can scream at me.


	5. those three little words

The first time Kara says “I love you” to Helena isn’t after a date or in any sort of a romantic setting: quite the opposite. That day, Kara works overtime at CatCo, endures three rounds of a yelling match with Snapper, is pulled out of the office twice during the day, first to solve a hostage situation and then to subdue a very rowdy rogue alien rampaging downtown, and has to end the day attending a briefing at the DEO, barely managing to hide her heavy yawning from J’onn. By the time Kara arrives home it’s past 10 pm and she’s well and truly exhausted: she heads straight for the couch, faceplanting into a pillow without ever noticing the presence of another person in the room. The sound of gentle laughter, however, makes Kara raise her head, and she finally spots Helena, who is standing beside the stove and eyeing her with a smile on her face.

“Hi babe” the older woman greets her. “Tough day?”

Kara just groans in response, but rolls over so she can face her girlfriend.

“That bad, huh?” Helena grins, and abandons her work in the kitchen so she can sit down on the couch, drawing Kara’s head into her lap. “Lena has to stay at L-Corp for some late-night conference call and God knows I can’t drag her out of there but since you were working late too, I thought I could take care of you at least.”

Her fingers are stroking Kara’s hair, running through the golden locks with remarkable gentleness, and Kara is sure she will doze off if Helena continues.

“Anyway” Helena carries on. “I made some tagliatelle, I thought you’d be hungry. But if you’re too tired, I can just take you to bed and save it for the morning.”

Kara’s eyes spring open and she stares into Helena’s face.

“You made fresh pasta for me?” she asks, and when Helena nods, surprised, a dopey grin spreads on her face. “Rao, I love you.”

Kara is a bit too tired to take it all in, but she can still hear the way Helena’s heartbeat speeds up, she can clearly see how her eyelashes flutter, how blood rushes into her cheeks, and how she stares back at Kara with a slightly incredulous expression before she bends her head down, until their lips brush against each other.

“I love you too, Kara” Helena whispers against her mouth, and when their lips press together, Kara suddenly doesn't feel _that_ tired after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If this feels weird after the last chapter, the chapters are not in chronological order and are the results of random bursts of creativity rather than coherent and well-planned storytelling on my part. Hit me up on @captain-narraboth if you want to yell at me about it!


End file.
